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When the largest recording conglomerate in the world, Universal swallowed legendary reggae imprint Trojan back in 2007, many feared it would be forgotten by its mighty new owner.

Now three years on Universal appear to be gearing up to make the most of the treasures at their disposal with some pretty impressive compilations emerging and loads more scheduled for imminent release.

To mark this new burst of activity, I had a natter with Trojan’s Laurence Cane-Honeysett, who’s been at the label for two decades now. For much of this time he’s had what many would consider a dream job, rooting through the vaults, unpicking the scrambled or unlabelled 1/4 inch masters in search of undiscovered gems ripe for reissue.

Listen to the interview below – including classic Trojan sounds – to hear Laurence reminisce about trips to the Trojan archive in Walthamstow, reveal plans for future unreleased material, and talk through the Ska, Mod, Dub and Label overview compilations that have just hit the shelves.

Trojan Records – Laurence Cane-Honeysett interview by musiclikedirt

MLD: Whats your role in the now Universal owned Trojan Records?

I’ve worked for Trojan records as the Jamaican music consultant since 1990. I ve worked in various capacities, I started off started off listening to the tapes and then compiling and writing sleeve notes. In later years I went on to oversee the releases, and now I work in an advisory capacity for Universal in terms of what they have in their reggae catalogue.

MLD: Whats the idea behind the 4 compilations that have just been released?

We used to do a series pre Universal of 3 CD boxsets, and these new comps are very much in the tradition of those. By and large genre based, introductions to various genres and scenes, that follow that model except 2 cd’s set and 40 tracks, but we didn’t want people who’d bought the boxsets to think wait a minute I’ve got these tracks on the boxsets.
What we’ve tried to do with these is include as much rare and unreleased material as possible.

The only thing is we are limited in terms of what’s available, we are negotiating to get the rights for more repertoire. People often think well it came out on Trojan in 1970 they can release it now, but obviously agreements expire. So we are limited, and someone might say well whys there no Studio 1.

MLD: So when you say unreleased, what do you mean? Unreleased on CD, on vinyl, or never ever heard before?

The four compilations Ska, Mod, Trojan, and Dub. None of the stuff on the Dub collection has appeared on a Trojan collection before. Other companies may have released tracks or Trojan may have issues it years and years ago.

The other collections we are trying to get stuff that has never been out before, its a first. Never out in Jamaica or the Uk, focussing either never been on CD before or never been in UK before. But by and large, good stuff, the best stuff has been out in some form, but we’re focussing on what’s never been out in UK, because obviously Jamaica produced more music than ever made it to the UK.

TROJAN RECORDS – Website / Facebook

Buy: Trojan Amazon store

4 new compilations (40 tracks on each for a fiver) Dub, Mod, Ska & “The Heavy Heavy Monster Sound: The Trojan Story”.

MLD: What particularly stands out for you? Is it the tracks issued for the first time like Rupie Edward’s “Let Me Love You”?

Its a little subjective, for example I’ve had Rupie Edwards “Let Me Love You” all my adult life, I bought the record god knows when, but that’s never been issued in the UK and only ever limited issue in Jamaica. Its a cover of an old pop song by the Playmates although its light years away from that in terms of style. Its a personal favourite, its studio 1 with Sound Dimension on backing.

The Mod one what I did like is that there are some old Island Chris Blackwell. A lot of Chris’s early Ska productions especially UK ones have been overlooked, no ones known what to do with them. So this was a perfect vehicle to show them off, and demonstrate that he was a decent producer and some of the music that came out on Island in the early 60’s and was big on the MOD scene.

MLD: Universal own Island so I imagine the plan is to tie in and plunder both archives as one?

We’ve Island, we’ve got Creole, Ras, Trojan, its an incredible collection so lets really start making the most of it which up until now perhaps that hasn’t happened. The opportunities to do “ultimate” compilations is there and that’s what we’re aiming for.

MLD: Is it a challenge servicing the “Now That’s what I call Reggae” market while not forgetting the collectors or hardcore fans?

You cant abandon the hardcore market, and you have to service it? Its two distinct markets and there’s room for them both.

Universal just did a compilation a hundred reggae hits for Tesco which was a really big seller, but obviously that sort of market is vastly different to the type of stuff that I get most joy out of which is stuff that’s never been out.

Listen: Click here to listen to Jonathan Charles’ fascinating BBC Radio 4 documentary on Sister Nancy “The Nun Nurtured That Reggae“.

MLD: Tell me about the experience of getting the keys to the archive for the first time?

That’s how it all started 20 years ago. That was my first job, the 9-5 job was working in Trojan’s archive out in Walthamstow. I’d get off at Blackhorse Road tube station and it’d be a 30 minute walk from there.

MLD: My home station! On U Sound also had their studio near Blackhorse Road.

Blimey! A hot bed of reggae! That’s where the warehouse was, all the tapes, all the stock.

I got the job because I was working for Record Collector writing review and articles, and then Steve Barrow who went on to run Blood & Fire, he left, and then I worked freelance for a while as a compiler and sleeve note writer. And then I said I want to be doing more and they said well we’ve got all these tapes that aren’t logged, come in and let us know what we’ve got on the masters! So Id be in a little studio down the back day in day out just listening to tapes, identifying them, putting them on the system, writing on the tape boxes, what was actually the contents.

It was fantastic, you can imagine it was just an education in itself because back then pre the internet there were very few places you could go for solid information on Jamaican music. It was a gold mine!!

MLD: I’m told the labelling on the tape boxes could have been better?

The funny thing was I always used to wonder why Jamaican music the singles that were pressed over here were so often so badly wrong, until I got to see the tape boxes, because all the tape boxes… it was rubbish what was written on them. It was confusing, or nothing there, or people would make stuff up… that sounds like Jimmy Cliff lets put it out as a Jimmy Cliff thing.

Now of course we find the same situation with the Island tapes which I’m hoping to get to grips with. They have got a database there but the people who originally logged it didn’t know what they were doing. They wouldn’t know if the song title was the song title or the artist. For example we did a Millie compilation recently, the most basic track My Boy Lollipop you’ll get all number of spellings of the track, and of Millie. At the time it was throwaway music it wasn’t really considered high brow or anything it was just lets get this out its a pop record from Jamaica.

MLD: Where are we now in terms of the tape archive, are you back getting access?

Its something that I’m really just giving my attention to. The Trojan is fine, but Island, the later stuff not just Marley, lots of artists, you name it they signed it. So even late 70’s stuff you;d think by then they’d have sorted things out, but its all over the place. Its just a logistical problem for me to get in there, even to see the tapes is a help because sometimes you can see things that perhaps someone who’s not knowledgeable about the music wouldn’t.

MLD: So these are where… there’s a vast store somewhere, they’ve not been digitised..?

No they’ve not been digitized, some are, and the company is moving towards that. Its easier said than done with a vast company. there are people logging and digitizing in some territories but not others. Trying to coordinate that effort takes a lot of effort and money. It is something that we know we need to do, especially as far as digitization goes. While the hardcore might not be that interested in downloading, that’s the way things are going.

Listen: Sandra Robinson – “Sensi For Sale (Part 1)” (MP3)

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The Ethiopians – “Everything Crash” (MP3)

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MLD: People I’ve talked to about Trojan or who are interested in Trojan seem to want to know… is there anything actually left in the vault!?

Ohh well there is. The answer to that is simple. Funny enough I get asked that question alot as well, because people think wow you put out so much especially in Sanctuary days when they were putting out 7 releases a month! It must have dried up, but so much music was produced particularly from the golden age of Trojan which was late 60’s through to the mid to late 760’s. The amount of music produced in that time is nothing short of incredible.

Even though we’ve released thousands of records over the last 20 years its just incredible how much for which they’ve got rights, which they could release, which is much more then has been out. Really of what’s they’ve got rights to maybe only a quarter at most, so there’s three quarters of the catalogue that’s not been out on CD or digital.

Download: A 21 track compilation of rare crackly 7″ flip side reggae dub versions. Compiled by a now vanished blog liamskablog: The Dubs & Versions Collection (Rar)

MLD: Is one of the issues tracking down the artists, in terms of publishing? Reggae publishing is perhaps known for some shady deals?

That is a problem, because there’s a lot of how could one put it..less than honest practices, but it was easy to just point fingers at the record companies but in truth it ran so much deeper than that. Producers – naming no names – would go to record companies and sign the repertoire exclusively, and then go to another company and do exactly the same deal. And then of course record companies would say what about the artists, and they’d say we’ll sort the artist out. If the the producer refused the record company to pay the artist directly there was nothing the record company could do about it.

But a stance has been taken that whether or not the producer liked it, we’d have to take the money for the artist and if the producers not paying them we have to. Its the right thing to do and we want to keep artists happy.

On the other hand I remember a long time ago there was an artist approached Trojan to pay his royalties, which they did and the following week I read an article saying he’;d never been paid any royalties.

Having said that there is a problem tracking artists down, and record companies have to actively try to do, so that people are getting paid.

MLD: Have you had a eureka moment? Discovering a special treasure that meant a lot to you?

I’ll be honest with you, there have been so many, especially with the Trojan catalogue. I was just like a kid in a candy shop. You can imagine there was stuff that had never been out, and still hasn’t been out, and I was finding stuff from the golden age that got me into the music in the first place. By artists Id never heard of and wonderful wonderful recordings. The only thing I did find though is we put some of those recordings on a compilation back in the early 90’s I think and it bombed. No one was interested. But I think now things have moved on and perhaps because not much has come out over the last couple of years its stoaked up more interest in the new stuff coming. It was getting a little tired before, the fact that we were putting out so much.

MLD: So you turn up at this warehouse in Walthamstow, open the door and before you are just racks and rack of tapes??

yes, literally that, in boxes. Just boxers full of tapes that haven’t been looked at since the day they were put in. That hadn’t been played since the day they arrived at Trojan, it was just mind-blowing. Actually there are still lots of unidentified things, especially on multitrack. Its just finding the time to play all these things, you’ve got hundreds. The only way is to get a studio go in here and play through them.

MLD: Are these all masters, 1/4 inch or are they mastered from vinyl?

It really varies , that’s another ting that was a surprise. It was interesting that we used to ask well this sounds terrible, and we’d be told sometimes that the master was the 7″ single they were provided with. In Jamaica cutting costs they’d use the tape over and over again, so a lot of those old original masters are long since gone and the ones that haven’t that remained in Jamaica, they rotted or they were eaten by termites. Baring in mind what there should be there is really only a small percentage of original masters existing. So we do have to use Vinyl in a lot of cases but then again they were using vinyl back in 1970. Things like Liquidator which was a big hit for Trojan was sourced off of a Jamaican 7″ single. Some people would say that’s the charm that roughness or rawness, it didn’t necessarily need sweetening with overdubs of strings and the like.

Listen: Carl Malcolm – “No Jestering (Part2 – Dub)” (MP3)

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Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Buffalo Dub” (MP3)

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MLD: Going back to Universal how does Trojan fit in such a vast company. How does it make itself heard?

I think that was a problem to begin with. Universal has a frontline or contemporary record company and they didn’t really get to grips with marketing older music. Trojan is a rather small fish in a huge pond, and it was a little bit lost initially going from one of Sanctuary’s main bread winners to being a really quite insignificant part of Universal.

Now there is a concerted effort and recognition at Universal that Trojan has great value, historically, commercially, but also in kudos, the brand.

MLD: As far as the reissues go, will you be bringing out not just various artists compilations, but also single artist and album reissues? Also there appears to be very little actual product available on even Amazon?

That’s another issue, there is a change over in the way the back catalogue is structured and im very optimistic for the future in terms of what’s being said and planned now. There’s going to be direct to consumer website, aimed at hardcore fans, and more in the way of single artist compilations and originals. On Spectrum albums will be coming out in the originals series such as Harry J Allstars

MLD: I looked on itunes and there appears to be barely any Trojan material available?

Yes, stuff is going up there but by the same token a lot of stuff has been deleted so its in everyone’s interest that the product is available. It may not be of importance to hardcore fans but its a great showcase, if its out there people like tv, adverts, games, films are more likely to use it. The only way we can make money is if the product is out there.

MLD: Aside from the 5 or 6 compilations that have come out in the last month or so, what else is in the pipeline?

Well we are going to be doing a vinyl range which is going to exclusive unreleased and rare material. We’re doing a Bob Marley & Jimmy Cliff single artists compilations.

MLD: Yes I read about you finding lots of unheard Jimmy Cliff in the archive.

It was fantastic, really I could have done a whole albums worth of unreleased Jimmy Cliff and if Id had more time to look maybe a few albums worth. Its astounding but also there is also the Bob Marley Jad stuff which is coming out which is exciting.
Universal acquired the JAD catalogue, pre Island stuff and from end of August beginning of September, the first fruits of that a 4 CD set of stuff that’s never been presented in that form before. Bob Marley when he was a real Soul Rebel. There are a couple of tracks that have never been on CD before and we’ve been promised a 100 or so previously unissued titles , we don’t know how good whether they are just demos, what they are , but that should be happening next year. So its happening across the whole Universal family, this realisation that reggae has this great value to the company.

There’s also going to be a Trojan boxset hopefully, of CD, Vinyl, Memorabilia, an exciting project with the best of Trojan plus rare stuff in there, all sorts of interesting things in a luxury presentation.

Once the obvious names are out there then we get to artists like The Ethiopians and artists of that ilk who aren’t perhaps as well known to the public but have a very important place in terms of the history of Jamaican music. And have commercial value, I mean Train To Skaville was used in a TV advert last year which brings a lot of money in. Its also important to appeal to the core fan base that love and cherish this stuff. Funny enough I found a couple of unreleased Ethiopians tracks amongst the Creole tapes that potentially could come out.

MLD: Well, thank you very much for your time, Ill let you know when its up on the site. Music Like Dirt is of course pinched from the old Desmond Dekker track, although people often don’t understand what it means.

Yes, the 2nd compilation I ever put together was called Music Like Dirt, but the name can be funny. Its not easy, we’ve just done a Lee Perry Black Ark years compilation, which is provisionally called “Sipple Out There” ie “Trouble Out There”. However a few people have quite rightly said what the hell does that mean!?

MLD: I can imagine. I got emails from Lily Allen fans when I put together a compilation of tracks she sampled on her first album… her music isn’t like Dirt they’d say?

You sometimes have to explain it, and you think well maybe I should call it something else.

MLD: Whats the selling point with the Perry collection?

Its amazing its never been done, but its what came out in Jamaica on his label on 7″ single. There’s never been a compilation saying well this is the stuff he issued himself, after he opened Black Ark which he would obviously consider the best.
If it does well we could do the same with the disco mixes , 12″ single, then you could do UK singles, given that Universal have rights via Trojan and Island to all the stuff that Perry put out in the UK after 74. The cross over between Trojan and Island is perfect.

Listen: Boris Gardiner – “Melting Pot (Coldcut re-rub)” (MP3)”

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MLD: Finally are there plans to remix any Trojan material or release previous remixes such as WrongTom’s Bob & Marcia’s “I Dont Care” remix ?

A few things got caught up and not released in the buyout of Trojan by Universal but its definitely an area we want to get back into and release.
Going back to what Trojan have and what there is on the masters, with multitracks its ideal for remixing..24 tracks multi’s.
Justin Robertson did one for the last track on the “Heavy Heavy Monster Sound – The Trojan Story” compilation, his remix of a Pioneers song. That’s the sort of thing we’d like to aim at a younger market and to try and suck people in who then may want to dig further. The message to any remixers is come to us, we’re interested in presenting or updating the music for a contemporary audience.

MLD: That’s sort of what I hoped with the Lily Allen compilation, that perhaps her fans would download it, and then discover all this incredible older music they didn’t know Lily was sampling.

To be honest I got into reggae in a similar way , it wasn’t remixes it was covers,. I was a big R&B fan, and I would listen to the radio to people like Charlie Gillett who’d play sound by say Prince Buster. If they weren’t covers they were heavily influenced at least the early stuff by American R&B. I then went back and dug further via that route so I think the same can be done via music now. Hopefully to introduce vintage reggae music to a whole new generation.

Listen:
BBC Radio 2 Documentary – “Tighten Up – The Trojan Records Story”
Part 1

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Part 2

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Join the Music Like Dirt Facebook page – Im sure theres a very good reason to…let me know if you think of one.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Live music »

In the three years since 2nd LP “Pre-Emptive False Rapture“, Chrome Hoof have bolstered their already mighty reputation for epic live performances, and I’ve conspired to miss every single one of them. Last month however (this blog now operates at Pathe News pace) I accidently saw them twice.

New album “Crush Depth” was a year in the making, with the process likened to “giving birth to a 14-pound spiny lobster. Slow, agonising and bloody“. To celebrate their new arrival, Hackney’s Bocking Street Warehouse was transformed into the ‘Chrome Hoof Space Station‘, where we were told revellers would be “taken on an inter-planetary voyage of discovery through space, time and music”. They do like a bit of hyperbole do the Hoof, but the huge sparse warehouse was equipped with the mother of all sound-systems, designed to make your eardrums feel like they’ve been beaten by the combined forces of Bonham, Purdie & the Animal. Watch the video below for a flavour of the night, although the mega speakers overwhelmed my camera mic, requiring a few little audio snips and cheats.

At 1am the gurgling synth intro of “Crystalline” rings out & the massed ranks of the Hoof emerge through the smoke, resplendent in head to toe spangly cloaks… think Gandolf the Grey if all he’d had to magic up some clothing were leftover disco balls. The crowd roar approval as the “Temporary Secretary“esque analogue opening transforms into a full on horn and violin driven assault, as is the way with Chrome Hoof’s “take 5 genres, then mix thoroughly” approach to music.

At the centre of it all is Hoof & Spektrum lead singer Lola Olafsoye, often described as voodoo priestess/Grace Jones/dominatrix/sultry, she certainly owns the stage, but the rest of the ensemble are hardly shrinking violets.

Of the two founding brothers Leo & Milo Smee, its Bassist Leo who takes Chrome Hoof closest to the death metal sound of his previous band, Cathedral. Donning a metal mask pilfered from MF Doom’s dressing room, he roars his way through the full on doom metal of “Death is Certain?” ably abetted by Emma Sullivan who summons up a scream that would have the priest hurriedly unpacking his exorcism kit.

Elsewhere tracks like “Vaporise” meld funk, electro and more to have dancefloor lovers salivating. Where some groups flit between styles over the course of an album, Hoof will switch time signatures, five different genres and various rhythms in one track. Skittering R&B beats, thudding 808 acid bass getting down and dirty with the classically trained sounds Sarah Anderson on Violin, and Chloe Herington on Saxophone and “what the fuck is that thing that birds playing” (as the bloke standing next to me asked his mate… a Bassoon I believe).

Every album sees the Chrome Hoof clan expand and Iranian guitarist Kavus Torabi (below) seems a particular fine addition. According to Wiki (and its funny enough not to care if its true) he learnt guitar by inventing his own form of notation and using it to score out the theme from CHIPS. I was about to suggest his axe work has more grunt than Erik Estrada’s chopper, but I’ll swiftly back away from that analogy as the Urban dictionary informs me Erik Estrada is a sexual manoeuvre involving aviator sunglasses and motorcycle noises.

As if there wasn’t enough to keep your attention on stage, two dancers are positioned on plinths above the crowd. Their mission, to get the crowd moving (as if encouragement were needed) while wearing futuristic outfits picked up when the BBC called time on Sylvester McCoy era Dr.Who.

With a final flourish, the band bring out their answer to Maiden’s “Eddie” or ACDC’s inflatable uber-breasted woman, a 12ft tall chrome goat with metal hooves and flashing eyes. Previous incarnations of the goat were ritually sacrificed, but version 3 provides a suitable climax to the show and encore.

SECRET CINEMA – BLADERUNNER

A few weeks later a last minute trip to “Secret Cinema” offered an unexpected chance to see Chrome Hoof again. Secret Cinema started out as small wonderfully thought out word of mouth concept, enhancing the chosen film by screening it in a fitting venue or with a special guest and encouraging people to turn up dressed in the spirit of the film. So when they showed “Anvil“, they got the actual band to play afterwards. Initially one off screenings, they guarded the title of the chosen film and instructed the small number of attendees to “Tell No One!“. At the latest event, Bladerunner played twice daily for a week, and attendees can now buy t-shirts saying “Tell No One!“.

What hasn’t changed is the staggering attention to detail and inventiveness of the organisers. Its now become a kind of promenade theatre that Punchdrunk or Shunt might put on, immersing the audience in a world to wander.

Arriving at Canary Wharf, air hostesses welcome you to Utopia Airways ushering everyone onto buses while tourists and weekend city boys gaup at all the weird and wonderfully dressed people who’ve materialised in this mecca to money.

Each step of the way, actors playing parts from the film interact, so the bus abruptly stops and everyone inside is instructed to immediately draw the curtains. When most passengers respond by laughing, the “Bladerunner” screams to “shut them NOWWW!!”. For the rest of the journey he asks questions (as the film) designed to reveal if the chosen victim is a “humanoid”.

I’m not going to go through every detail of the experience as its simply too rich to cover in what’s ostensibly about Chrome Hoof! Suffice to say upon arrival at the hanger they’d chosen to show the film in, they’d recreated the Bladerunner world in its entirety. Midgets attack cars with baseball bats, hawkers tout carpets, film characters mingle, snakes and iguanas’ are offered to pose with, iris’s scanned, dancers writhe in-front of neon lights… its incredible. Enjoying the sun in the Warehouse yard I made the mistake of placing my pint on the boot of a wrecked car, only for a fleeing Zhona to send it flying while careering over the cars roof escaping a Bladerunner (as in the film).

Anyway, what band could they possibly pick to play Taffy’s Bar in a dystopian LA circa 2019… Chrome Hoof of course. So for all the twitterers and google searchers asking “Who were the band playing Secret Cinema…they were AWESOME”… Chrome Hoof is the answer!

Chrome Hoof – Facebook / Twitter / Buy the album + Tshirt

Look: RedBull sponsored photo gallery from the launch night

Secret Cinema Flickr set

Read: I Heart AU says Hoof raised the “live show to stratospheric proportions”

Spoonfed got hot and sweaty but loved the show.

Secret Cinema review

Listen:

Chrome Hoof – “ProNoid” (MP3)

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Chrome Hoof – “DJ Mix” (MP3)

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RedBull Academy radio has a superb recording of the bands Primavera Sound gig.

Watch:

Official film of Bladerunner Secret Cinema event

Even BBC News noticed Secret Cinema

Popularity: 2% [?]

Live music »

At the risk of offending any Meursault fans I’ll admit I almost chose Jamie Theakston ahead of their album launch.

After a hard & deeply thrilling day grouting bathroom tiles the option of sitting on my rapidly expanding posterior while watching a bunch of semi-celebrities playing terrible football on ITV seemed oddly appealing.   Thankfully at some point in the 2nd half sense prevailed and a quick dash to the Old Queens Head later I arrived in the nick of time to catch Meursault.

For this  “God Don’t Like It” organised free album launch five Scottish bands braved the Sassenach Capital.   Meursault’s timing couldn’t be better, the 2nd LP arrives as the buzz around the band reaches a new high.

And for once the excitement is justified – they may not be reinventing the wheel – but Neil Pennycock and his accomplices deliver on two fronts. They meld glitchy electronics to folk as well as the best of that genres exponents, but are equally capable of delivering a rousing tune stripped back to just banjo and vocal.  They seem to take a purverse delight in wrong footing the listeners expectations of which is the “Meursault sound”.

“Crank Resolutions” is from the laptop folk side of the catalogue and while I wouldnt quite agree with venerable blogger The Daily Growl’s description of it as “Song of the Year so far?”, its pretty special.

“William Henry Millar” is a tale of the Eighteenth Century politician, who unlike Lady Gaga was generally believed to be a hermaphrodite.  He also requested he be buried face down, 40 feet beneath the Earth. It’s an unlikely topic for a song that sets the audience off in a bout of joyful if slightly off kilter clapping along.

Before the closing number Pennycock shoots tongue in cheek glares at some in the audience unable to stop chattering. Live “One Day This’ll All Be Fields” improves on the recorded version, with the antique voice effect removed, and the crowd encouraged to add another dimension by sweetly singing along with the chorus. Its a fitting end to a short set, that certainly left me wanting more.

Meursault – Facebook / Myspace / Song By Toad Records
Meursault – “Crank Resolutions” (MP3)

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Meursault – “A Few Kind Words” (MP3)

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Meursault – “William Henry Millar Part 1″ (MP3)

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Buy: Meursault – “All Creatures Will Make Merry” LP

Popularity: 4% [?]

News and MP3s »

There’s a limit to how much you can cram into an unexpected work trip to Berlin, but I managed an “alternative Berlin” walk, 45minutes in the Modern Art Gallery, a record shop, a few aimless meanders and mass Karaoke session in Mauerpark.

Or rather I missed a mass Karaoke session as I had a flight to catch. Going by Youtube it’s a sight to behold, the full bearpit packed with a raucous crowd urging on the amateurs as they murder the popular classics (check out Prince “Kiss” & Sir Mixalot “Big Butts” – the crowd go crazy for the last one). Instead I enjoyed the sun, Mauerpark’s version of Camden market, a graffiti covered stadium and an unexpected highlight, Lucky Paul with his car battery powered electronic busking.

The Kiwi producer is based in Berlin & he pops up for impromptu jams all across the city. He’ll often rope in friends like DJ Vadim and Yarah Bravo, although on this day there was only a passing Borat lookalike and his pals begging to try the mic. Apologies are offered for the fact that the sound and vision below doesn’t really do Lucky Paul justice, but I was just playing around with the camera.

Lucky Paul – Myspace / Buy
Watch: Lucky Paul, DJ Vadim & Yarah Bravo – Live Alexanderplatz (Youtube)

Not having much time for record shopping I took a trip to Dense Records which proclaims itself as Berlin’s one-stop-shop for everything sonically unusual.
It stocks everything other than the mainstream, and the friendly guy behind the counter dealt was happy to recommend a few “local” sounds. He also enthused about trips to Manchester’s Piccadilly Records & Sounds Of The Universe in London.

Here are the three releases he picked out:

The Q4 or QuadraphoniQuartet are an odd first choice as the group is a collaboration between three Dutch producers: Arts the Beatdoctor, Sense and STW. It is however released on Berlin based Hip-Hop / Electronica label Project Mooncircle.

They scratch up obscure old samples, cut them into individual notes and then form impromptu jam session over the top. Their Sound Surroundings LP features a host of guest vocalists and rappers but for my money it’s actually the instrumental tracks that standout the most.

The Q4 – Facebook / Myspace
The Q4 – “One Of These Days” (MP3)

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The Jahtari label releases digital laptop reggae, and is endearingly geeky about old computers. Visiting their website you’re advised to install a C-64 font to get the full Jahtari experience.
For those too young to remember (and I’m told some are) Atari were a legendary computer company, and Jah! is what middle class people exclaim when visiting Sound systems at Notting Hill Carnival*. *He may also be the Rastafarian god.
If you love Reggae, be sure to head over to their site for oodles of free dubwise downloads!
“Citadel Station” sounds like Luigi & Mario gave up freeing princess’s and made a dub track. 8-bit dub loveliness… check out that bassline!

Jahtari – Website / Myspace / Facebook
Buy “Jahtarian Dubbers Vol.2″
Read: Jahtari’s guide to the history of Reggae Music.
Disrupt – “Citadel Station” (MP3)

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Olaf Bender, co-founder of experimental electronic label Raster-Noton was an audio/visual artist in the East before the wall came down. Aside from his musical aka Byetone he also oversees the always innovative graphic design and packaging for Raster-Noton releases.

In the interview below Olaf talks about how music perhaps means less than it did once. When he grew up music was resistance, especially against the state in East Germany, but now its more linked to the fashionable and the sheer quantity. I don;t need every single MP3 on my harddisk he says, he’s happy to be selective.

Label mate Alva Noto featured in my favourite tracks of the year back in 2008 with the stunningly good mathematics meets the dance floor “U08-1″.

Byetone – Myspace / Facebook
Watch: Interview with Olaf / Raster Noton history
Byetone – “Plastic Star (Session)” (MP3)

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Alva Noto – “U08-1″ (MP3)

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Yes I know, enough Akira The Don already, but stick with me, this is just a brief post in honour of Music Like Dirt’s walk on part in securing Hackneys favourite bleach blonde his first Number 1.

After “Be Brave”, from Akira’s Tribute to the music of Street Fighter Mixtape featured here last week, The Don summoned up an army of twitterers to assault the Hype Machine Twitter chart.

For the uninitiated, the Hype Machine hoovers up MP3’s from hundreds of music blogs and allows users to listen to individual tracks, favourite them, or tweet their appreciation to all and sundry. Any blogger who’s ever posted an MP3 of LCD Soundsystem will have found themselves at No.1 in the main chart (by its nature it rewards posting the most popular artists, rather than spotting new talent) but the separate Twitter chart is a different beast.

Otherwise known as the “ANA MARIE COX CHART”, a song scores points for every tweet about it. The more followers a person has the higher points per tweet, so Ana Marie has dictated the top 3 for weeks thanks to the 3801 point scoring bunker busting tweet bomb her massive 1.5 MILLION followers give her.

No easy task to overhaul but day by day “Be Brave” climbed, 100’s tweeted in its cause, every single point taking it slowly towards the 4000+ needed. Musicians and writers like Martin Carr, Example, Gonzales, Dan le Sac, Scroobius Pip, The Quietus, Lethal Bizzle joined the fight putting some big scores on the board. Robyn, Andree 3000 and finally James Murphy himself were passed and it was mostly down to the twitter hoi polloi tweeting and retweeting for days.

If you missed the track first time listen below or visit AkiraTheDon.Com to download a Free MP3 bundle.

Akira The Don – Be Brave by Akira The Don
With one chart “rigged“…sorry enthusiastically embraced… why not milk it some more and suggest the story to those responsible for the excellent Hype Machine Podcast/Radio show? I suggested they speak to Akira himself but the show is about the blogs rather than speaking to artists so it was left to the one man charisma vacuum that is me to step in for wittering duties.

Listen below at about 12 minutes in. On the plus side they played Desmond Dekker’s “Intensified 68 (Music Like Dirt)” as well as “Be Brave”. All I can say is I sound like a right old whinge, moaning about how much email I get (oh woe) and how I think about deleting the whole blog. I’m not really such a miserable git honest!!! I don’t feel part of Akira The Don’s life either… well not since the restraining order anyway.

#19 Hype Machine Radio Show (June 2010) by hypem

Akira & his mate Joey2Tits have also remixed Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobious Pip’s new single “Great Britain”.

It’s available to listen to below, and buy at all good retailers (or itunes).

Finally the last remaining sample – Squeeze’s Cool For Cats, – has been cleared, and Akira’s album, The Life Equation is almost ready to be unleashed.
The first single, co-produced by the legendary Stephen Hague (as is the rest of the album) will be winging its way to Radio soon.

Great Britain (Akira the Don vs. Joey2Tits Remix) by le sac Vs Pip

Sample nerds might want to check the original source material for “Be Brave” below – taken from the Blood On The Asphalt remix of Guile’s Ending Theme, from the Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD remix project.

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